Perspective: The Battle Over The Beatles

Reprinted with permission from CNet.com.

The Beatles burst onto the international music scene more than four decades ago. But while these boys from Liverpool sang that all you need is love, the battle over the money they generated continued well into the 21st century.

A reported recent settlement indicates that the parties have come together. While confidential, the terms must be financially mutually acceptable. (Perhaps the lyric should be rewritten that "all you need is love--and money?") So what generated the dispute in the first place?

In a complaint filed in state court in New York at the end of 2005, Apple Corps, Apple Records, the surviving members of The Fab Four--Sir James Paul McCartney (Paul) and Richard Starkey (Ringo), and the representatives of the deceased members of the band, John Lennon and George Harrison, alleged that EMI Records and Capitol Records had been guilty of fraud. They also alleged that EMI had breached contractual terms in a scheme designed to